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Say Hello to Crowd Cow

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I have an affiliate relationship with Crowd Cow because I've tried their products and believe in them. You can save $10 off your first Crowd Cow order and help support Macheesmo at the same time!

I remember as a kid going with my dad once a year and purchasing half of a cow from a local farm. It was a big ordeal but was a great way for us to get quality beef for much of the year.

Now that I’m grown, I still think about doing this sort of thing occasionally, but for someone who lives in the city, the logistics of buying 150 pounds of meat are a bit daunting. For starters, where would we put it all?!

But, the idea of knowing where my meat is coming from and supporting smaller farmers is really important and that’s why I’m incredibly excited to tell you all about Crowd Cow.

The two founders of Crowd Cow have figured out a way to crowd source cattle. Essentially, each week a cow (or many) goes up for market from specific farms. The site offers shares of that cow (various packages of meats) and once all the shares are purchased, then the cow “tips” and the meat arrives on your doorstep in vacuum-sealed, frozen packaging.

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Here’s an example of a recent sale:

The company’s goal is to allow you to get very high quality beef at reasonable prices. The beef is grass-fed and grass-finished and they dry-age the beef before delivering it.

I just love the business model and love the idea that you can get beef that is much better than what you can buy in the stores (typically this sort of farm-to-table relationship would only be available for restaurants or bulk purchases).

My Crowd Cow Experience

I get about a dozen or so “pitch” emails every week and I end up not working with 99% of them for one reason or another. After learning about what Crowd Cow was doing though, I asked for some samples to get an idea of the quality of the meat and how it was delivered.

A week or two later, a massive box arrived on my door with about 30 pounds of perfectly packaged and frozen beef. The company ships overnight to guarantee it gets to you while still frozen. This was just a portion of my delivery.

I’ve tried a bunch of it over the last few weeks and it’s noticeably better beef than what you can buy at stores. Even just the ground beef (which is an 80/20 blend) is really flavorful and isn’t over-processed or over-ground. I made burgers out of it, and tacos, and more burgers. It might seem boring to order frozen ground beef in the mail, but it’s some of the best I’ve had.

While the Crowd Cow site lets you pick which “shares” you purchase, I didn’t request any specific cuts when I got my samples.

And that leads me to another reason why I love this company. You can get different cuts of meat that are unavailable in most stores. Check out this beautiful shank steak I cooked up. This isn’t a cut you can find unless you go to a specialty butcher. It showed up on my doorstep and was stunning.

A Few Questions

A few common questions that I asked and that you might as ask well:

What if your cow doesn’t completely sell? If you purchase a “share” of a cow that doesn’t sell 100% then they don’t charge your card.

When will the beef ship? Generally it ships the next week after the sale closes and is shipped overnight.

I checked for my address (Macon, GA) and my sister’s address (Arcadia, FL) and they do not ship to either of those cities. Unless their method of delivery is driving their own trucks to your house, I cannot understand what the problem is. There are carriers (UPS, FEDEX) that deliver perishable shipments every day to both of those areas.

Hey Gloria, I checked in with Crowd Cow about delivery issues and it’s just because they are ramping up the service. By the end of the month they will be available everywhere and the discount will still be in affect then. :)

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